hotgizmo

Day1) Leaving at midnight from Toronto -> Arrive at next morning 1pm in Frankfurt (7-8hrs on the plane)
Spend day touring Frankfurt and stay the night

Day 2) early morning depart Frankfurt -> Berlin via ICE (4 hours on the train)
Stay in Berlin

Day 3) Stay in Berlin

Day 4) Fly from Berlin to Rome (2hours on the plane)
Arrive at Rome in mid-afternoon.

Day 5) Stay in Rome

Day 6) Leave for Florence mid-afternoon (1.5hr on train)

Day 7) Leave Florence late night to Barcelona (1hour on plane)

Day 8) Stay in Barcelona

Day 9) Barcelona to Paris (either overnight train or plane1.5hrs)
Arrive in Paris early morning

Day 10) Paris

Day 11) Paris to London late night

Day 12) London

Day 13) Depart London

So its basically 13 days and 5 countries (and 7 cities)

I don't mind hitting only major attractions since this trip is with the entire family. Please advise if this is realistic. Thanks!

CathyM

This is way too much even for a single person. Dragging along a family would be disatrous. With only 12 nights I'd focus on one, and maybe 2 countries. Depending on the size of the family I'd probably limit the amount of bases you stay and do daytrips exploring the area.

Michael

<i>I don't mind hitting only major attractions since this trip is with the entire family</i>

How many in the family? Add individuals and it slows down the logistics. At any rate, I think that this is too fast. Take Florence as an example. Mid-afternoon to Florence means getting there late afternoon, and you have to get to your hotel and settle in before hitting the sights. In Florence, the sights include a major museum which took us three or four hours, the cathedral, for which you have to stand on line both to get in the building, and a separate line to climb the dome (highly recommended if only to view the dome frescoes from up close). Lunch has to be figured in somewhere that day. I think that 2 nights would be a minimum for Florence.

hotgizmo

Hmm how about if we stayed a few more nights? What is the ideal numbers of days to stay in each city?

Although it's an entire family, we don't have any children so it won't be that slow, and going to pack real light.

Dayle

Here we go again

socaltraveler

It's tge travel catch-22 rule, every added person, child or not, slows you down - you need more tas, you have more luggage, someone always need a bathroom stop, it's just the way it is. Flying time is NOT just the time in the air - it's check-out of hotel, transfer to airport, check-in, security, repeat in reverse on other side.

5 countries, 7 cities, 13 days is crazy - IMHO. 2 countries, 3 cities is doable.

StCirq

Good grief! Start over. This is insane! I'm not even commenting on itineraries like this anymore. Don't you have maps or a guidebook? You can't do this. Hire a helicopter and fly over Europe.

franco

The ideal number, or only for hitting the major attractions? That makes a big difference!
Ok, let's do both:
Berlin: ideal perhaps 4 or 5 days, minimum 2 days
Rome: ideal 365 days, minimum 5 days
Florence: ideal 5 or 6 days, minimum 2 or 3
Barcelona (not an expert on that one): ideal probably 5 days, minimum 3
Paris: ideal 10 days, minimum 4
London (again, not a expert): ideal 7 days, minimum 3 or 4

So a few nights more will hardly do; if you double the length of your stay, you should be able to hit the major attractions (allowing also some time for travel!!!).

socaltraveler

Taxies.

Look, it's your trip, but just look at the beginning - you do NOT arrive in the morning. Your flight, if on time, lands at 1pm. Immigration, customs, baggage, transfer to hotel - you do not have a touring day, you have a few hours. Jet-lag for anyone? And an early am next day to a 4 hour train ride; your group is already exhausted.

Do some trimming.

hotgizmo

I see your points. Thanks for inputs and some sarcasms as well.
Obviously, I'm a novice traveller to Europe and I appreciate any productive tips instead of sarcasm.
The reason I am flying to Frankfurt is purely cuz it's cheapest to fly into. No interest in seeing much of it but since we are there thought we'd stay a night.
Florence and Barcelona are my 2nd priorities.
So how about if I trim down to

Frankfurt (cuz I have to fly into there) -> Berlin -> Rome -> Paris -> London in 13~15days
Is that a good alternative u think?

Woyzeck

No, you can't "hit the major attractions" with 1 or 2 nights in any of those locations, much less traipse around the entire continent, family in tow. Absurd. Do people really do this?

CathyM

You need at least 5 days in Barcelona. I'm not an expert on Florence but I'd suggest at least 2. That's already 7 nights out of 12 not even counting the Frankfurt time. I'd consider flying directly out of Frankfurt to Florence or Barcelona. Add Rome OR Madrid and fly home from there. If you've locked yourself into departing from London then visit Florence, Barcelona and London - that's it.
Otherwise book a group tour where you're stuck on a bus 8 hours a day and can take some nice photos out of the bus window as you drive by Europe.

ellenem

It is false economy to look just at airfare and choose the lowest, in this case Frankfurt. You must also consider the money you will spend on train tickets or additional flights to get from Frankfurt to the places you really want to visit (never mind the valuable vacation time wasted to travel back and forth to Frankfurt).

Keep in mind, every time you change locations, you must consider not only the travel time, but the time spent checking out of the hotel, traveling to and waiting at stations/airports, traveling to new hotels, checking in . . . you will lose at least half a day of you trip each time you make such a move. So for your original plan, about 3 of your 12 days would be taken up with travel, giving you 9 days to actual explore 7 cities (Frankfurt, Berlin, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Paris, and London).

Are your top priorities Berlin, Rome, Paris, and London? Even that is a lot to cover in just 12 days, but it is more reasonable when you remove Frankfurt from the equation, especially since it doesn't interest you. Try a plan where you fly Toronto to London, train to Paris, train/fly to Berlin, train/fly to Rome. Even better, eliminate either Rome or Berlin.

Check multi-city flights and I bet you will find a choice Toronto-London, Rome-Toronto (or Berlin-Toronto) that doesn't cost that much more than roundtrip to fFrankfurt plus the cost to get from Frankfurt to the other places.

Others have been sarcastic with you because in the past few days there have been a series of similar questions concerning jam-packed, unrealistic itineraries by new posters, which were eventually revealed to be hoaxes. This can be disturbing and disheartening to those who spend time offering advice. I've chosen to believe you need some real guidance. I hope this is the case.

djkbooks

Saving a bit on air fare by starting off in Frankfurt could end up costing you far more in the long run.

Agree with far too many destinations for one trip. Otherwise, you'll spend most of your time with hotel check-in/out, packing/unpacking, and en route from one destination to the next with no time to see much of anything. Getting to/from airports/train stations with all your belongings and the stress of such a schedule will considerably reduce your energy and enthusiasm for your travels, particularly if you are traveling during warmer weather. One or more family members is likely to become quite cranky.

If you're trying to economize, have you checked rates for accommodations in these places? The best way/cost of getting from one to another? The more destinations, the more research and planning that is required to avoid costly errors and contingencies. And, all that is far too ambitious for someone inexperience with planning European travel.

It's hardly worth visiting any major city for a day or day and a half. You really won't see anything, as you'll be too distracted by the schedule.

If Florence and Barcelona are your two top priorities, choose a third destination and figure out how to split your time between the three, along with all the logistics.

Sassafrass

You say you don't mind hitting only major attractions. Unfortunately, you won't even hit those.

As others have said, it is false economy to fly into Frankfurt. You are paying for a night in a city you don't really want to see and won't even have time to see anyway. You are then paying for the train and wasting over half of the next day getting to Berlin.

On paper your transportation sounds ok, but actually you are spending lots and lots of daylight hours getting from place to place rather than seeing anything.

It is also going to be hot, hot, hot in Rome and Florence, making everybody want to stop for rest and something to drink.

You can see a lot more and save a lot of money by picking three (at the most four) places and doing short day trips from those bases.

klondiketoo

Ellenem's provided an itinerary that makes more sense. I can not however stress enough, as others have, that more time than you can ever imagine is needed on each travel day. It takes time to find the taxi stand or figure out the public transportation system, find the hotel/museum/restaurant.

My sister and I trained from Germany and "did" Paris in 2 nights, 3 days. She was visiting us for 7 days total. It was fun and she saw a lot, but mainly because I know the ropes from having done that several times a year. She didn't have to know or figure out anything upon arrival, which is not your case.

I'm with Sassafrass, except for the day trips suggestion. Yes, you will be able to say that you've been to all those cities but you certainly won't have SEEN those cities or even been able to get an inkling of their charm. You will have spent more time studying the interior of trains and airplanes and waiting in taxi stand queues.

This is one of those times when "less is best".

ParisAmsterdam

2 weeks? Do 2 cities, 3 at most.

What I think you're missing is that each time you move cities you are eating up pretty well a full day. By the time you check out of your hotel and get to the airport you've taken up what? 3 hours? Then you have to wait at the airport... an hour before the flight might be fine but you've never been to this airport and probably don't even speak the language so you need to be there 2 hours ahead. Then there's the flight time. The time to deplane. And getting from airport to hotel and checking in so most of the day is gone and now if it's not supper time it's darn close and worst of all you're now tired from all the faffing about. And you want to go through this 6 times. I'm tired just from having written it! Once! LOL ;^)

Try something like fly into London, train to Paris, train to Amsterdam and fly home from there. Or London, Paris, fly to Rome and then home from there. Or just London and Paris... you won't even scratch the surface of either in a week.

Nobody here is trying to give you grief over your plan... but I fear you'll come to grief if you attempt it.

Rob

Cathinjoetown

Your post suggesting Berlin, Paris, Rome, London in 15 days is almost reasonable, but you will still have at least 3 transfers, 5 if you use Frankfurt for arrival/departure.

Try for open jaw, into Berlin out of London or some combination. As others have said, that will save you so much on transfers and give you more time on the ground. Three cities would be better, of course.

Woyzeck

I agree with Cathinjoetown that your revised proposal (Frankfurt > Berlin > Rome > Paris > London in 15 days) is a step in the right direction. My advice would be to cut either Berlin or Rome out of the picture. Berlin might be the best to eliminate, as it is a little out of your way and a sprawling city probably not geographically conducive to hitting the "major attractions" in a couple of days. I would heading from Frankfurt to Rome > Paris > London in 15 days - that way you get 4 solid days in each and won't be spending every day waiting in line at the airport or train station.

Wekiva

While I do agree that the original itinerary is too much (even by my rushed standards)...it's not any more absurd than the replies that state you should only do 2 cities in 2 weeks. A trip that slow would kill me.

It depends on how often you'll return to Europe as to how much to see on your first trip. For our first trip we did London, Paris, Wengen, Garmisch, Florence/Sienna and Rome in 2 weeks and LOVED it. I wouldn't do that again but for an intro to Europe it was exactly what we wanted.

No matter what your itinerary is just make sure you do a detailed itinerary that shows exactly how much time everything takes (including checking into/out of hotels and traveling to train station, etc). Then see what's left to "see" stuff and make up your own mind. For me this early part of trip planning is half the fun.